Pchum Ben (Ancestors' Day) Festival: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Siem Reap)

A lunar fortnight for the dead

Pchum Ben follows the Khmer lunar calendar, so its date moves every year. In 2026 it falls in September/October and runs for 15 days in the month of Phatrabot. The last three days are national public holidays across Cambodia, Siem Reap included.

The first fourteen days are called Kan Ben, when families take turns bringing food to their pagoda. The final day is Pchum Ben itself, roughly “gathering of offerings.” Khmer belief holds that the gates of the underworld open during this fortnight. Hungry ancestral spirits wander from pagoda to pagoda looking for relatives, and food offered through the monks feeds them.

No tickets: the venue is every wat

Nothing about Pchum Ben is ticketed. It is a religious observance held in working temples, and these are the Siem Reap pagodas within walking or short tuk-tuk distance of the old town:

• Wat Preah Prom Rath, west bank of the Siem Reap River, a few minutes from Pub Street
• Wat Bo, east bank, known for late 19th-century murals of the Reamker, the Khmer Ramayana
• Wat Damnak, south of the Old Market (Psar Chas), on the site of a former royal residence
• Wat Thmei, on the road north toward Angkor, with a memorial stupa holding remains of Khmer Rouge victims

Many families visit several pagodas over the fortnight, since spirits are said to roam between them.

At the pagoda gate before sunrise

Families typically arrive in darkness, around the pre-dawn chanting. Monks recite in Pali while people kneel on mats in the vihara, the main prayer hall. Food for the monks comes in stacked metal tiffin carriers. Outside, people toss or set down bay ben: small balls of sticky rice, sometimes mixed with sesame, meant for spirits who cannot receive food any other way.

What attendees and respectful visitors usually do:

• Wear white or light tops with dark trousers or a sarong; shoulders and knees covered
• Remove shoes before stepping into the vihara
• Sit with feet tucked behind, never pointed at the Buddha or the monks
• Women do not hand items directly to a monk; they set them down on a cloth or tray
• Ask before photographing a family, and skip flash during chanting

The festival food is num ansom, a cylinder of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf, filled with pork and mung bean or with banana. Stalls around the Old Market sell it through the fortnight, alongside the rice and offering trays families carry to the wat.

Siem Reap during the three holidays

Pchum Ben is a homecoming holiday. Many people who work in Siem Reap’s hotels, restaurants and tuk-tuk trade go back to their home provinces. Visitors usually find some family-run shops and market stalls shut, and fewer drivers waiting on the street.

Hotels, larger restaurants and tour operators generally keep running. Angkor Archaeological Park stays open, and the pagoda mornings fit easily before a day at the temples. Long-distance buses and roads out of Phnom Penh fill up on either side of the holidays, so travellers moving between cities usually avoid those exact days.

Allow about an hour for a dawn pagoda visit. Two pagodas fit into one morning, finishing by breakfast.